The Americas! (Part VIII)
Buenos Aires - day one!
The flight from Houston to Buenos Aires was painless and sparsely populated plane meant we could stretch out for sleep. The ambien didn't hurt either.
We splurged on a taxi from the airport to our hotel. During the very slow drive we noticed heaps of motorcoaches filled with folks wielding flags, playing drums and generally having a great time. We asked, in severely fractured Spanish, where all these people were going. Turns out, due to May 1st falling on a Sunday, that all the "trabajodores" were meeting in the city center for May Day demonstrations (manifestations, per the taxi driver). This meant traffic in the city was worse than usual. It was remarkable to see so many people gathering for a demonstration.
After getting settled at the hotel we grabbed another taxi and raced across town to meet up with a Graffitimundo tour. We started in the Colegiales neighborhood and made our way, via foot and bus, through Palermo, Villa Crespo and Palermo Soho to the Hollywood in Cambodia gallery at the Post Street Bar.
Our knowledgeable tour guide educated us on the historical and political roots of graffiti/street art in Buenos Aires as well as the unofficial codes of conduct within the street art scene. Later in the evening Amanda and I were able to identify the artists on a couple of pieces in the neighborhood around our hotel.
The perros of BA are truly prodigious defecators. In the words of our tour guide, "In Buenos Aires you must lookup up to avoid the traffic and down to avoid the dog poop."
We took a walk around our San Telmo neighborhood and ended the day with a dinner at a local bar.
